Editor’s Note: This article was written by one of our community members here at Askaprepper, who over the years has helped countless others with his thoughtful insights and reality-based opinions. He selflessly shared his life experience so that others may learn and prepare before it is too late. Thank you for everything Left Coast Chuck.
“I have been prepping since either 2005 or 2013 and have found supplies from both dates.
I always kept my bug-out gear in my Ody van, but recently sold it and had to clean out all my emergency supplies.
There, I had lots of medical supplies, food, water, extra clothing, extra blankets and a varied assortment of goodies. However, I will only deal with the food.
I keep my food supplies in my favorite storage device, a styrofoam ice chest. Everything is wrapped in saran wrap with the exception of the New Millennium bars. I put everything away before I acquired a vacuum sealer.
I found I had essentially five kinds of emergency food. Clif Bars, Quaker Instant Oatmeal, some bars entitled, “New Millennium Energy Bar,” Franklin’s Best Instant coffee and a Jar of Tang.
As the NME bars were vacuum-sealed, they were not wrapped additionally in saran wrap. Franklin’s Best had been placed in a plastic peanut butter jar. The Tang was still sealed in its original packaging.
Related: How To Make A Gluten-Free Emergency Kit
Clif Bars
The first Clif Bar I opened had an expiry date of 2013, so it died according to the Clif folks 8 years ago. The first one I opened really didn’t look appetizing and I tossed it. I decided in the interest of science to man up and eat one.
The next one also had the same expiry date. A close examination of the bar itself revealed that it appeared somewhat shrunken over what I remember a fresh bar looked like. I didn’t see any obvious signs of deterioration although I thought it looked darker than what I remembered. It tasted quite dry. Chewable, but required effort to chew. It would have been better if I had a cup of coffee to aid in chewing. I ate the whole bar.
While it wasn’t dinner at the House of Prime Rib, in an emergency situation such as the sun has just exploded, it would assuage the pangs of hunger. I am going to replenish my supply of Clif bars because they contain more fiber than the NME bars. However, in addition to the Clif original wrapping, I am going to vacuum pack them in packages of two bars per pack.
New Millennium Energy Bars
I next decided to try the NME bar. Noticed that they were manufactured by the same folks that make S.O.S. lifeboat bars. I am familiar with them and also have them as my emergency food supply.
The S.O.S. bars are wrapped in a very heavy layer of newspaper to ameliorate extreme temperature swings in the trunk of my car. I have eaten S.O.S. lifeboat bars long long past the 5-year shelf life and they were still palatable and not bad.
Related: What Happens If You Eat Food From The Civil Defense Emergency Kit?
NME bars come in a variety of flavors and I selected the lemon-flavored bar to try. It tasted just like an S.O.S. bar. It was crunchy and dry but this time I was armed with a cup of coffee and the experience was okay. Again, not a baked potato with sour cream and chives and a huge slice of prime rib, but we are talking about survival reality here.
Quaker Instant Oatmeal
Next, I tried the Quaker Instant Oatmeal. I sampled the cinnamon and brown sugar. I followed the directions on the package, packet of oatmeal and filled the paper container the oatmeal comes in 2/3 full of water and microwaved for 2 minutes. The oatmeal was much dryer than I normally like my oatmeal.
I think that I would use a whole package of water as opposed to 2/3. Of course, if I am using shank’s mare to get home, I would have to stop and heat water. I think bringing the water to a boil and adding it to the oatmeal and letting it sit for a few minutes would be a satisfactory way to prepare the oatmeal in a get home situation.
The oatmeal was, again, okay considering that we are talking about a survival situation. Would I prefer Red Mill Old Fashioned Oat Meal with a 1/3 cup of raisins heated in the oatmeal? Well, yeah.
Franklin’s Best Instant Coffee
Next, I looked at Franklin’s Best instant coffee. Franklin’s Best really looked the worst of all the foodstuffs. The outside was a foreboding black with a layer of grey on top.
I examined the layer of grey to see if it was mold. But a 5X glass wasn’t sufficiently strong enough lens to make that determination. I had to break the lump of instant coffee with an ice pick in order to get it out of the jar.
When I broke the black lump open the contents inside the black/grey layer more nearly resembled instant coffee, albeit still kind of dark. I did not have the courage to try a cup of the former Franklin’s Best coffee.
Related: 23 Things You Should Never Store In A Refrigerator
Tang
I did not open the Tang container to see how it fared. Without any reason to base my supposition on, I think Tang is probably like Cheez Whiz. Left in it’s original container, unopened, it probably has a shelf life of 5,000 years.
Three days after consuming the eight-year past expiry date Clif Bar and a package of who know how old oatmeal, I am still alive and have no untoward symptoms regarding my digestive tract. Someone not accustomed to eating as much junk as I might exhibit some sort of digestive tract irritation.
Related: How to Make a Natural Remedy for Food Poisoning
I have determined to update all my supplies with newer supplies. I am going to keep the out-of-date New Millennium Bars but dump the oatmeal and also the Clif Bars. Ordinarily, I would keep the Clif bars, but when they are on sale locally they are less than a buck a bar and so replacing them is not a major financial investment.
I ordered more New Millennium Energy Bars yesterday and they arrived today. A chance to compare the older bar with the new bar. The new bars have different manufacture dates. The lemon bar I am looking at has a manufacture date of 12/20, and an expiration date of 12/25, so it is almost a year old already.
Raspberry Bars
I ate a raspberry bar which had a manufacture date of 3/21. The lemon bars are the oldest with a manufacture date of 12/20. There were five flavors in the shipment: vanilla, lemon, raspberry, orange and blueberry. The lemon was the oldest at 12/20. The other bars were dated 01/21 and 03/21.
The raspberry bar I ate out of the new selection was just a tad more moist than the old bar which was dated with an expiry date of 2018, only 3 years past expiration. It tasted about as I expected, not much difference in composition from the S.O.S. lifeboat bars. I don’t know what the ultimate shelf life of the S.O.S. bars is (or the NME bars) but it is well past the use by date.
These foodstuffs have been in the cargo area of my van through summer and winter. They were stored in the styrofoam ice chest which fit inside a custom-made cardboard box. Certainly, while our summertime temps don’t reach anything like some of the warmer climes in the U.S. My van sits out in the driveway day and night. So, anything in the van is subject to the temperature swings in this locale and places to which we had traveled.
Related: How To Prepare Your Car In Case You Have To Live In It
Now that I have a vacuum sealer, I intend to vacuum pack all the bars and the new oatmeal. I have ordered a new supply of Franklin’s Best and I am going to have to figure out some way to preserve it so that it is actually able to be used as a beverage and not a missile to be flung at some bad guy.
Vehicular Emergency Bag
Our needs for a vehicular emergency bag have changed considerably since I put these supplies in my vehicle. At that time we regularly drove the 350 – 400 miles to the San Francisco area to visit our children and grandchildren. Alas, those days are behind us now. The limit of our excursions is 15 miles away and closer.
From the ultimate destination of our present journeys, I figure I could reach home in 3 days pushing my wife in her wheelchair. As a back-up, I intend to carry at least 2,000 calories a day for each of us for seven days. I may add some Mountain Home freeze-dried meals to get the daily calorie count up.
Mountain Home is really overrated in my estimation. If you go by their “servings” you will lose weight rapidly. A “serving” is not a meal unless supplemented by other foodstuffs. I may add a small amount of canned fruit for morale purposes and quick energy. I will try to buy fruit in heavy syrup.
If I am pushing a wheelchair five miles a day, my worry will not be overindulging in too much sugar. It will be in consuming sufficient calories to offset what I am burning up. I would rather arrive home with food leftover than have to go the last day and a half with just water.
If there is enough interest in the rest of my get-home supplies, I will write an article detailing just what I consider essential to cover 15 miles as I described above.
I would add one final note: If we really have to leave home, I will be making up a totally different list of items to go in the car if we are leaving by car and with great reluctance, by shank’s mare if motorized transportation is not an option. That is a whole different article in itself.”
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in regard to dry beverage pack storage >> think about packing a 12V travel mug full of coffee, hot chocolate, bullion cubes ect ect and vac packing it clean & dry for vehicle emergencies ….
Maybe the coffee could be sealed in a canning jar (or with O2 absorber)? Yes the glass is heavier and breakable but if stored properly in the car it should be fine. Is that brand freeze dried? That would last much longer.
I have vacuum packed coffee in its original packaging. The thing I found is that when you take all the air out then open it later, the coffee has no taste or flavor UNTIL it has had a couple of hours to sit. The air allows the flavor to re-bloom and there is no difference in the taste at all. I had some vacuumed for several years this way. When I opened the first package I thought it was ruined but dumped it into my canister anyway. My surprise was when I went back to throw it out and it smelled so fresh that I brewed some and discovered that it was just fine.
I will try once more. For about 30 years I have carried two water heaters in my car, even long before I started prepping. I have a 12 volt immersion heater and a 120 volt immersion heater. You can see numerous immersion heaters on Amazon. The one that most resembles the one I have carried for so long is the Lewis N. Clark portable water hater for $11.71 formerly $15.99.
Actually immersion heaters long predated 12-volt, in-cup heaters, but it is basically the same principle. As a personal preference, I prefer the coil-type immersion heaters to the in-cup type as I feel they give me a little more flexibility. That is a matter of choice.
Even disregarding prepping for disaster, I found that the immersion heaters were very handy items to have for travel. The cup of coffee that you bought 100 miles ago is not hot to your taste, it is an easy matter to either pull off the road and heat it up in just a couple of minutes or your passenger can easily heat up the coffee to your taste as you continue your travels.
For many years before I started prepping I carried the two immersion heaters, an Opinal folding knife, a dozen folded paper towels, a can opener, two sets of camping knife, fork and spoon, a corkscrew, and a Swiss army knife in a plastic box that fit under a car seat. It afforded easy access while on the road and was used frequently. I would recommend that for travelers whether preppers or not.
Glad to see you back LCC. ?
I worked on a search and rescue squad for 18 years. My gear was placed in one certain spot and nobody was to touch it and it was always elevated in case of a flood. That lasted until my boys were teenagers. lol Somebody set my gear on the floor for some reason and our basement flooded. My gear went unnoticed until a called came in, some time after, and I went for my gear. It was completely ruined. Molded, still wet, just trashed. To replace it costed me costed me nearly $2000.00. I learned that I needed to be more attentive to things like my gear. This made me more aware of ALL of my gear like ECW, rain, bug-out and all of the rest. For food there’s can rotation so they don’t go bad, constant date checks, inventory and replacement, how and where it is stored and so on. Be aware and keep an eye on what you need and think outside of the box as to what could happen to your gear you might need one day. BTW… Nobody admitted to moving my gear! lol
I would strongly encourage you to actually hike/walk the 15 miles you are referring to. This will give you an idea of what to expect. The first time I hiked my work to home route, it was a huge eye opener! Things pop up that I never thought of! Blisters made me rethink my shoes. It was a hot day starting out, but when the fog rolled in, I was very cold! One area had no cell service, so a paper map is a must.
Water is far my importance than food, so I had to find some along the way.
Fortunately, the route I would need to follow home is fixed and I have scouted alternative routes in case the main route is blocked. It travels through the flood plain of a river and is mostly tilled farmland, so it is mostly flat. I don’t hit any real hills until I am about a quarter mile from home and while steep, they are less than 300 yards in length. I have sufficient water stored in the car in plastic throw-away bottles to last for as long as I think I will have to walk. Three days for 15 miles of flat land, I think is a realistic figure. There are farm buildings along the way but because even “family” farms are industrial operations in the PDRK, they are only inhabited when planting, watering or other farm-related activities are going on. Even then people being around is only during daylight hours.
Businesses are much closer to my home. Once out of the town where my wife attends day care three days a week, it is flat farm land. Our travels these days are significantly restricted, so I am in a special situation from the average prepper still traveling distances from home. Aside from traveling to day care three days a week, my wife rarely leaves home and my travels are very limited here in town. I would estimate that 90% of my traveling is within 3 miles of home.
While advances in wheelchairs are as dramatic as other medical advances, I always have to consider space available in the car. It would be nice to be able to leave the wheelchair in the car but unfortunately, it would be visible to passers-by and in today’s real world, crooks will steal anything, even if it is of little value to them. I don’t know how many times I have heard on the news of some lowlife stealing a specially made wheelchair that has been handcrafted to meet the special needs of the person using it. It has no commercial value and can’t be sold due to the broadcast of the news of the theft. No fence would touch it and in the commercial market because of its limited value to anyone other than someone with the exact special needs of the original owner, it is valueless but some lowlife stole it just because it could be stolen.
Because of the possibility of theft, I wouldn’t want to leave either the walker or the wheelchair in the car overnight which means I have to take them in and out of the house each evening because the rest of the get-home supplies are in the trunk, concealed from view. Steal a $30 walker but create $500 in damage to the car getting into it. I once had a thief break a $90 wind wing (remember those?) to steal two 29¢ knobs from a radio. A student staying with us had his heavily used seat stolen from his Target special bicycle. Brand new I think the seat was $15 at Target. So whatever goes in the car has to be easily extracted from the car each time we leave it overnight. Unfortunately, for most of us in urban areas that is a constant concern and is ignored at the peril of having greater damage done to a vehicle than the cost of the item stolen.
No matter how much we plan for the event, remember, the Old Gunny says that the best plan goes to hell the second the first round cracks overhead. No matter how much we plan, we will not cover every exigency and will have to fake it when the fecal matter actually is ejected from the air circulating device.
Now, let’s see if this actually posts.
Greetings. Hey chuck. Just for a reference. An infantryman standard 12 mile ruck march is done in under 2 hours. Full load. Only walking. 3 days pushing something with wheels seems like O. K. (Overkill)
C,
I too have hiked the route home from work. As you did, I found I needed a better hiking shoe. I found a comfortable walking shoe, purchased two sets, one for lunch time walks and one with my emergency bag in the trunk of the car. I left my walking shoes at home one day and after about two years in my car I pulled out the second set. They felt good. After one walk (about 5 miles) the glue had gone bad and they started to fall apart. I always would rotate my “supplies” but never considered the shoes. Lesson learned.
I think a pair of sandals made from old tires, like the Vietnamese used to make, would be a great addition to any kit. I’ve had a lot of boots over the years, and the ankle support they provide would be better than sandals… but I don’t think I’d be as worried about delamination or similar failures with a “couple pieces of old tires”. I had a boot repaired one time and after a week in my trunk the sole came off again.
Unfortunately, I’ve walked the 10+ miles home on a number of occasions. Sometimes part way, a couple of times all the way. In a city environment, it’s helpful to have some cash with you, especially in small bills. Every city emergency brings out a few local entrepreneurs, and you never know if what they are selling will either come in handy or be exactly what you need. No need to haggle or pay more when you can come up with exact change.
Your article made me think that I should go through my 3 back packs to see if I still need the things I packed, to see if they are still good and to add anything else. I think they were filled 5-6 years ago. Using a vacuum sealer sounds like a good idea. I would be interested in more articles like this. Thank you for sharing.
Thank you for this great article! I look forward to more from you, especially lists of important things to include/consider. Thanks for sharing your expertise and your insights. My best to you and your wife!
Thanks for this LCC. I too have the pre-packaged oatmeal which I will now vacuum seal in hopes that it will extend the life a little more as well as the bars I have. I’ve already purchased my coffees in bulk in the bags but also have already vacuum sealed those because why not. I’ve read that vacuum sealing does extend the life of things so I did it with a lot of stuff like rice, beans, sugar, flours, boxes of jello & pudding, and pastas. I’ve purchased several cans of meats, soups, things like raviolis and so on and use them according to their expire date because that sort of stuff worries me if it gets too far beyond that date. So if they get close, I use and then replace w/newer. Thanks again for the read. This has been insightful and will change some of what I’ve been doing. Take care and stay safe.
When my son was here visiting for a month, I made Pesto Pasta with pasta that had expired in 2011. I had sealed it in vacuum sealed bags. No one complained. I told my hubby but not my citified son. It did take another 2 minutes to cook, however.
FYI for everyone — I have experimented with Nissan ramen pkgs. ( no msg in it) I left them their original packaging to see how they would fare over the years. I opened them yearly since the exp date. The last pack was 8 yrs old. Still tasted ok but with a slight cardboardy taste. One caveat I stumbled across. Even with the new packages I have had to put them in a hard plastic container. Reason being I discovered pantry moths. They can pierce plastic bags, original sealed new bisquick mix, new bag of rice (that’s where they originated from the Aldi grocery store). Also I now have some field mice (probably because I raise backyard chickens) that came in house and even chewed a hole in my veg oil bottle. So now I have to store more things in glass containers or find moth and mouse proof containers. So when you prep consider these other things that might happen to you.
Since I live in a small, 100-year-old wood house, I have all the local critters visiting off and on, so I store most dry goods in jars. The biggest problem being finding suitable jars. I use canning jars quite a bit but I don’t throw heavy plastic out altho I know a rat can chew through it. I keep rice, cornmeal, oatmeal, barley, etc., in large glass jars. I cut the label down with the product name and “how to cook” info and put that inside the jar. My family makes fun of me because I store food and I imagine they will throw a lot of what I have out, but maybe they will learn. Especially with out present politics.
Valerie, I also use a lot of canning jars and I too cut and stuff label into the jars. Reminds me of a story, my friends toddler got into the pantry and tore labels of cans, they had a mystery can with every dinner for about a year. hehehe
Bay leaves will keep pantry moths out of food. I usually tape a bay leaf on the inside of the lid of container.
I am a big fan of vacuum sealing. I have elk in my freezer that was vacuum sealed 2 years ago and it is still good. One tip I would offer is to double seal each end of the bags with 2 parallel seals. I found that sometimes when opening bags with single seals that over time air can gat inside because the seal fails. Vacuum sealing things like rain gear is a great way to reduce storage space. I double bag for that.
I wonder how long pemmican would last?
Thanks an article that really made me think. It’s been a while since I looked at my pack. You sound like a great husband.
I have an idea that many things f us would be well advised to go through our mobile supplies. For one thing, many of us are getting older and our requirements change over the years. I would add a little peanut butter to your preps as it will provide calories you will need. Good article!
Peanut butter isn’t good for very long in the heat. It will go rancid. I wonder how long PB powder will last. It still has a high fat content but with no water, who knows.
I purchased Peanut Butter at Costco 5 years ago. It was a double pack of 16oz jars. Stored it away with all my other preps and forgot I had it. Just moved into a new place and found that little treasure stuck in my Medical/Surgical Bin (??) I have no idea why I thought it was for medical purposes, but oh well.
The Peanut butter was 2 years past expiration. It has been in a dark closet inside a dark bin all this time. I opened it and it was actually good. This was a few weeks ago and so far I’m not dead.
I think one of the best things one can take away from this article is to be willing to try (within reason) any of the “expired” food. I’v read in many places that the expiration date is arbitrary. The US Govt requires it, so I think some companies just pull a number out of their hat. Maybe just keep testing, pay attention to storage conditions, and keep good notes.
I found a case of peanut butter in a corner cabinet where my mother had stored it in 1988. Metal cans. When my son and I opened one in 2018 it was still good. We split the case and I’m still finishing up my half of them. Plastic containers don’t hold up nearly as well. And if it weren’t a well insulated spot the cans might not have faired so well either.
I would suggest PB2 (dried peanut butter) in the hot/cold regular peanut butter goes rancid quickly.
Thrilled to see Left Coast Chuck again. As someone that also has less than able family can I suggest replacing the wheelchair with a stout folding bicycle and a trailer for your beloved. The deer hauling carts are easily towed by bicycle.
Getting home in a few hours instead of 3 days is my preference. Also this setup is handy for homestead uses.
This is a great article. I have neglected my BOB and need to start from scratch. I prefer Kind bars for their composition, but lacking the typical preservatives necessitates rotating stock. I would need a new vacuum sealer to see if that would make a difference.
Now to get into better walking shape! Recently walking the streets in San Francisco helped me discern I can do more than I imagined, but I still need more strength and stamina.
Thanks for a great article!
Rather than using vacuum-sealing bags, I’d go for mylar with O2 absorbers. It’s last longer.
While I haven’t actually tried it, but the principle is the same, I believe one can seal mylar bags with a hot iron or that hair curler that women use to make curls. I would guess it is called a hot hair curler. I have an impulse sealer left over from my printing business that I used to seal plastic bags before I got my vacuum sealer. I still use it to seal the padded plastic envelopes that Amazon and other mail order houses use to ship goods. I can make small padded envelopes out of larger ones to protect the items inside. With the impulse sealer’s adjustable heat range it is easy to seal almost any kind of plastic. That said, I would not rush out to buy an impulse sealer if I didn’t have one already. Uline, the shipping and plastics wholesaler carries impulse sealers if you suddenly realize that you just can’t face life without one. Also, they have free shipping for the next ten days.
They also sell new food grade plastic buckets as well as steel buckets. They also have gamma lids for the plastic food grade buckets. I know, this sounds like a commercial for Uline. It isn’t, really. But they do have a lot of neat stuff in their product line.
Many bakeries sell food grade buckets that had icing in them. It might be worth it to give it a look and see if you can use those buckets. Walmart and other stores that have bakeries also sell these buckets. Most are 5 gallon buckets, though.
A couple years ago my mom was given a box of food from an elderly lady who cleaned out her cupboards. Included in that box was an unopen jar of Sanka instant coffee that had expired 22 years before. My mom decided since it was still sealed she was going to try it. She said it tasted just as fresh as a new jar.
Thanks for the article! I have wondered about the oatmeal in my car as well as the Cliff bars! I live in the south so it get REALLY hot down here! Made me realize that a BOB is not a Ronco “set it and forget it” which is exactly what I have done! Am going to the car today and pull all BOB and refresh them!! Thank you for taking the time to share with us! Be blessed!
Your article made me think about when in high school 40 years ago and my brother was preparing for Nuclear war and fall out , bought lots of survivial food , stored it and left it to me when he died , and i carried it around for 20 + years
It was Canned, Prepared and Dried so nothing could contaminate it . when i got around to testing it , it only had a 25 year life span and i opened some at the 40 + year mark .
The only think that lasted was Freezed Dried with preservatives
the rest was not edible
Brings me to my pt , we , Mankind were not created to store food forever and the side effects are huge .
Yes I believe in and Trust wholly The One Only God and he states to fully trust him , we must trust daily , call upon him for our provision , and thank him for doing that . this Creates a meaningful relationship and fellowship with him.
When Man Tries to bypass the creator , Mankind Screws it Up and the eventially dies or ruins all around him.
thier is no exception , it is one thing to store up for hard times , like the example of Joseph in the old testiment , and store up for our tommorrow .
But Never Forget all of mankinds days are numbered and you or anyone else cannot extend that date .
God is always the final Authority
You are so right God is still in control and in Ez. 3:1-2 He says there is a time to live and a time to die! Etc. Everyone of us has that and nothing or no can change that! And He did give us all a brain and we need to us it wisely! There no coincidences, no accidents God is the one who determiners when we die!! And I put my faith and trust in Him!!! I does not mean I do not prepare for what the enemy has in store! We all can be put in situations that we will need our preppers supplies ready!!
If that’s true, no need to eat well, exercise, wear a seatbelt or avoid smoking.
There is a wonderful book by Mary Strong called “The Letters of the Scattered Brotherhood.” One of my favorite quotes from there is this: “Fear is Faith in the Adversary.”
That being said, middle easterners have a centuries old saying, “Trust in God, but tie up your camel.”
God has not created us to lie around and wait for Him to save us. We must be diligent in protecting ourselves and our loved ones. This is not to say we don’t have faith. But we do have accountability and responsibility to be grown ups.
Please be careful with microwaving food: You remove all good energy and you end up having DEAD FOOD. That is not what you want if you have to survive .In the eighties there has been an Swiss research where it was found that microwaved food gives you a prestage of cancer…
Thanks LCC, I didn’t think I had my BOB stuff put away so long ago also! Those MRE’s for my 72 hour pack are way old-gotta’ check ’em. Otherwise, I’m usually pretty good at keeping things rotated. Dated and stored in oldest to newest order. Which brings up the difference with pantry stores and BOB stuff. Pantry stores usually are kept in a more climate controlled storage than BOB stuff in your vehicle. This article was about BOB stuff, and we should refresh our thoughts on pantry storage again soon. Finally, Donna referred to her “Bisquick” getting bugs in it. I wouldn’t try to keep anything with oil mixed in long term. Anything from Bisquick to cereal to even some pasta will go bad to the point of being hazardous! You should move to the rotate move to your rotate stuff, and store the components separately! I look forward to LCC’s next chapter in this refresher!
Thanks for the read, LCC. I would be very interested to hear how your other BOB items fared.
My spouse got a new car recently, and in cleaning out the old, we looked at what we thought necessary to have and what isn’t. I have fewer longer rides in my vehicle, and because of that, I don’t keep a lot in the car. Spouse has a longish commute and is essential personnel, so it makes sense for him to carry more BOB items.
I agree with you, some of those emergency foods are okay in a pinch, but not what I want for a steady diet.
We have four discrete seasons here, so it makes sense to consider the BOB’s contents quarterly. For instance, in winter, I put a pair of snowshoes in my car. While pokes ate nice to use with them, I can make do without. But if I have to abandon my car for so e reason a d good it home or someplace else, it’s easier going with the snowshoes when there is a few feet of snow on the ground, rather than moving through every step. That’s akin to hiking a path riddled with tussocks and hummocks.
Looking forward to the next installment and wishing you and Mrs. LCC the best.
To correct the typos (fat fingers on the phone)
For instance, in winter, I put a pair of snowshoes in my car. While pokes ate (EDIT POLES ARE) nice to use with them, I can make do without. But if I have to abandon my car for so e (EDIT SOME) reason a d good (EDIT AND HOOF) it home or someplace else, it’s easier going with the snowshoes when there is a few feet of snow on the ground, rather than moving through every step. That’s akin to hiking a path riddled with tussocks and hummocks.
Excellent article, Chuck. Good insights for an extremely important and often ignored aspect of prepping. Checking and rotating gear and consumables of all times can be critical. A few things might be an annoyance if they are not usable when opened, but others can be life and death if they are not still good.
Like a couple of others mentioned, I would suggest setting up something with which you can transport your wife much more easily and still have the wheelchair for use when not on the road. There are times when pulling is much more effective than pushing, so keep that in mind. Perhaps replacement wheels for the wheelchair can be used to make a sort of travois that you can run the wheelchair onto and then rig a belt to take some of the weight and force and keep your hands on the poles projecting forward at your waist. You can add your gear to the travois, too, and be the least encumbered possible.
I am another that always look forward to your responses and usually learn something from each one. I hope you will continue with the series of articles for all of your gear. Your experience and insights are invaluable.
Just my opinion.
So good to hear from the PDRK again! Being retired, living in the country, and my wife still wheelchair bound we don’t leave home much. When I worked I always thought the most important get home article was a couple liters of water, then a Glock and an extra magazine. Folded toilet paper. Having gone decades w/o eating carbs I carry my civilian C rats instead, Vienna Sausage, sardines, those little cans of deviled ham and deviled chicken. If you never eat carbs you don’t have to worry about your energy level going up and down because your blood sugar doesn’t spike and fall. All my canned goods rotate to the food bank before they expire because we don’t eat out of cans. Post SHTF it will be different, beans and rice, canned supplies, and whatever I can kill that doesn’t have a long tail.
Quite a few people commenting here care for a disabled spouse. Since we’re doing everything we can to get my wife back on her feet I bought a cheap transport type wheel chair that would never do for a two day journey home, something I hadn’t really thought about. Years ago a friend was off his feet for most of a year from GBS, he worked at a bicycle shop and the owner custom built him a chair that would roll anywhere. Guess they make and sell really good chairs like that now, definitely something to think about. Maybe one day LCC will write a short article on the challenges of restricted mobility and we can have a forum here? You never know how old and stove up you’ll be by the time SHTF, whole new world of prepping to consider.
Judge Holden, I too am dealing with a spouse that is getting over a serious injury that limits her mobility. Could the number of people on here in this situation be because many of us on here are reaching our “Golden Years” AND due to that fact we can more easily read between the lines of today’s America and realize what we are facing? Many of my friends that are very serious about prepping are either approaching retirement age or they come from agricultural / ranching backgrounds where fantasy and wishful thinking have no place because they deal with cold hard reality on a daily basis? Former military as well as current LEO’s seem to fit this category as well. Those who deal with reality can see what is happening, those that don’t …well, they don’t. Good luck to you and yours!!!!
I like to see an article about senior or handicapped prepping.
I don’t just prep for a vague future horrible event. Troubled times come now and then anyway. Covid nearly a year and a half ago made getting out in a vehicle impossible for a while. Once I was well enough to cook I used stored food for months. Now I’ve replaced most of it and I’m gardening, canning, ect again.
What I Found When I Opened Up My Bug Out Supplies? BUGS!
Well, Rick, bugs are an often overlooked source of protein, so I hope you didn’t just kill ’em and leave ’em.
Good to review. I too have neglected checking. Kind of liked the RONCO analogy.” set it and forget it”. We have to not take that attitude. I would keep a flashlight in each bedroom when my kids were little and would find the batteries dead most of the time as they would use them for other things or leave them on. The time to find out that your supplies are deficient is NOT when you need them in an emergency. Always good to review and update. Thanks
I only keep batteries in flashlights that are in constant use. Otherwise, I store the batteries necessary for that particular instrument wrapped in Saran wrap and then attached to the instrument with a rubber band or put the whole arrangement in some kind of suitable container if I can find it. That way, even if, when I got to use it, the batteries are bad, the flashlight or other device is not damaged. I have had too many instruments damaged by bad batteries and although one battery company guarantees to replace your damaged flashlight, let me tell you the experience is painful enough to make you forego it in the future. “Do you know what lot number the batteries are from? I’m sorry, we do need the lot number to replace your flashlight.” after interminable waiting on hold listening to heavy metal music. Unfortunately just this past week I had to throw away two souvenir flashlights from a bicycle ride I did because I had neglected to follow my own advice.
The Plano Stowaway series lure boxes should make decent weatherproof battery boxes. They won’t hold a ton, but enough to fill a few lights. If you use “D” batteries, you may need the Deep models. Heck, I have both, I will try a D cell in each size and see what works.
Great article, LCC
There’s a certain very popular flashlight brand (opposite of Max-dark) that if the batteries go bad inside it’s impossible to remove them to ascertain the lot number of said battery, as the corrosion all but “welds” the battery cap on.
As an avid tool user, I could use a hacksaw and cut into them lengthwise to force it open, but it just isn’t worth it.
I have some of the “trusted by professional” batteries that have gone bad in the original packaging, well before the expiration date. Kept in a temperate dark place, they go bad well under the 10 year warranty, and it angers me enough that I no longer buy that brand. Now I stick to the bunny one.
Left Coast Chuck once again shines the light of reality on a subject fraught with myth and wishful thinking. I will be doing the same thing with my “mobile” supplies and equipment this winter when I retire and return my work vehicle to the company fleet. I may not be able to go as thoroughly into testing as LCC did since we hope to be moving out of state at the same time, but I will definitely check things out once we are settled.
Keep up the good work, Chuck, and all the best to you and your wife!!!!!!
W keep Military issue MRE peanut butter on hand. Some we’ve had for years, opened two, made sandwiches with MRE jelly and they were fine. We keep some MRE bread, both wheat and white, on hand, they checked good. We do have some MREs but our main food supply is from 4Patriots. We’ve had their food supplies for years. Every time we’ve pulled out something from the oldest we have, around 15 years old, (they are supposed to last 25 years at the minimum), they were prefect! Easy to make, very tasty, stored in Mylar bags and with the plastic tub the bags are stored in, easy to stack securely. I have a case of “C” Rats I brought home from my discharge at Fort Hood just after I returned from VN. When I checked the case I found some of the cans in their individual boxes were leaking. These were discarded but we kept the ones still in good shape. I opened a can of peanut butter, it smelled good, looked good and even tasted good! Not bad for something that was packed in the early 60s! Best of luck to everyone, stay safe and keep your eyes open!!!
Dammit Claude. I posted a reply to Illini Warrior about what I carry in my Bug Out supplies to heat water via either 12 volt or 120 ac and it didn’t show up.
left coast chuck did you remember to click on the I agree box? I often forget and POOF off goes my comment.
Oh and to expand on the bike-game cart idea a folding bike can be taken to a good bike shop for a extra low gear if you need it. ALWAYS test run your escape route friend. Look for choke points and seek ways to get around them. Someone already said Paper Maps 🙂
Stop being such a drama queen and complaining to Claude. Get your shit together! I’ve told you a thousand times what to do to ensure that your comment is not eaten by this website. Why do you not listen to me? One more time. After you’ve finished writing your comment; highlight it. Copy it. Then do the rest. Your name. Your e-mail address. Check the private policy agreement. Then post your comment. If the website does eat your comment then just paste it back into the comment box. Then do the rest. I do this with EVERY comment I post. The website will eat my comment every once in a while. Doesn’t happen often but “every once in a while”. I don’t stress over it as I’ve copied my comment, Chuck. So I don’t care if the website eats my comment every100 times or so. I don’t think you can blame Claude for this, Chuck. I’m pretty sure Claude has some kind of cloud account where all this info is stored. I would blame THIS person first before giving Claude a hard time. Never knew you to be a whiner. What’s changed? BTW, nice to see you back on here, Chuck. Is this going to be a one of or are we going to see your smiling face here once again? Missed you, Chuck. Because you weren’t here anymore you forced me to deal with red. What a horrible experience that was. LOL! That’s a joke old stone face. 😉 I figured you’d gone to ground and started living in your backyard bunker full time. I hope that nothing REALLY bad happened to you and that you just needed a break. Nice to hear from you again you old fart! 🙂
Armin: I have written out my posts in either LibreOffice or TextEdit, saved them and reposted numerous times. Typically upon reposting I will get “You already said that.” I have tried rewording or editing some superfluous wordage and still get the “You already said that” message. I thought Claude had fixed the problem. I got mixed results with this article and replies. One didn’t post but all the rest did. I am sure I hit “I agree” but perhaps I did not. There was nothing wrong with me except for a fit of pique. I hate it when I have researched what I write in a reply to an article, spent time reviewing it to see if it makes sense at least to me to have it disappear into the either world and after the last such batch I decided to just quit posting.
My experience with my Get Home Bag I thought was a valuable teaching lesson. If nothing else, to prod some of us to actually check the stuff we have squirreled away in our vehicles hoping that it will get us home from wherever we might be if we are still here when the world collapses.
Firstly, Chuck, I really am very glad to see you back on here. I hope you’ll stay a while. I was seriously worried that something very bad had happened to you. An accident. The virus. Someone very close to you passing away. I’m VERY glad it wasn’t any of those things. I can now breathe a sigh of relief knowing you were only a little miffed. 😉 You and Miss Kitty. Clergylady; and a few others; those are the people that I respect the most on this page. If one of you are missing it’s like the family isn’t complete. I know it’s sometimes a real pain to post a comment on here especially when you don’t feel like it or when you’re tired. But I think in these times it’s more important than ever to stay in touch and to keep each other apprised of events as they develop no matter the subject of the current article. I have to apologize to you, Chuck. I just lost my temper. It wasn’t personal. I just lost it. If I can be accused of anything it’s that I’m human. This while lockdown is getting to me. The uncertainty of the whole situation. Seeing empty shelves at Walmart. Knowing that a financial collapse is imminent. Just not knowing the when. Trying to prepare as best I can on a fixed income. They say anger comes from fear and frustration. And I’m certainly extremely frustrated with the whole situation and frankly more than a little afraid for the future. Just listened to a 3-part series on the Great Depression where the script was real letters and newspaper articles from the time. Nothing has changed. Only the players. They’re going to play the same game they played in the thirties. To inflict the maximum damage on us. Steal the most money from us and screw us into the ground as deeply as possible.
I hear you, Chuck, about the problems with posting here. May I suggest that if you have an issue with this website that you contact Claude privately. He’s a really good guy and might be more discrete if you contacted him offsite. Without him we wouldn’t have a venue to discuss these matters. I would tend to think that if Claude could’ve done something about the wandering black hole on his website I’m sure he would have done something about it long ago. He’s certainly had enough complaints about it. My feeling is that it’s out of his hands. Out of his control. You have to remember it’s much more difficult for me, Chuck, because I AM the world’s worst typist and it takes me twice the time and effort to write out any kind of comment. And research if needed. And then the checking and editing. Then if this website eats my comment and I haven’t saved it then all that work and effort is for nothing. Feel like throwing the computer through the window. Not very constructive. I can’t re-create the original comment.
I think you’ve mentioned libreoffice or text edit before. You may be adding an extra layer of complexity where it’s not needed. I find firefox the best browser for this. Still using Windows 7. Pro edition. If it works with Windows 7 it’ll work with any OS above WIN7. I try and keep it as simple as possible. The KISS principle. All I do, Chuck, is type my comment into the comment box. Check it for spelling and grammatical errors. Correct it. And when I’m happy with the result, I highlight the text; copy it to my computer scratch pad. Name and e-mail address. Check off the I Agree. Then post the comment. It’ll get eaten every 10-20 times or so but then I just repost. I’ve never had to repost a third time. It’s such an easy fix. I’ve gotten into the habit of using it every time. It frustrates me to no end when I give people such an easy fix and they won’t even try.
In your case it may be different, Chuck. You have to deal with pictures and links in writing this type of article for us. It could be that’s what’s causing the problems. Or the editing program. Computers are funny. Doesn’t take much for an incompatibility problem to show up. In the meantime, Chuck, do me a favour and when you’re only writing text save it before you post it. And because you’re a guest author sometimes, it may well be worth your while to have a sit down with Claude and try to figure out why this site gets hungry every so often. If you’ve spent 1/2 a day writing an article and then the site eats your work I wouldn’t be a happy camper either. Hope you can stay a while this time. You’re a respected, valued, well-liked member of the clan.
You might want to check that Tang. Especially if it’s sweetened with anything other than REAL sugar. I have found that some of the sweeteners in boxed and packaged mixes goes rancid. It’s especially disheartening when you don’t find out until you’ve taken out a package of something and spent the time to cook it and find out that it’s inedible.
Thanks, Floyd, I will.
Good thought provoking article and comments.. My husband is now on hospice here at home. In the best of days I can get him up and moved to chair for a while so I can change the bed. Today he wasn’t able to help much so I couldn’t get him up at all. We can not get him out of the home. There is no ramp. If I got him up he could sit on the seat in his walker. Breaks are in the handles. I leave twice a month to pick up food. Lunches for both of us are delivered Monday through Fridays except holidays.
If I were away from home the furtherest normally is roughly 25 miIes getting food pantry food. Walmart for bread and milk is 16 miles. No more hospital emergencyroom visits.
I should go through the box in both vehicles as circumstances are changing. I carry water, flavors, gatoraid because it’s drinkable even hot, snacks enough to get me through a few days. I’ve done that since before retiring 9 yearsago. At home we have 4 year old cliff bars. Still edible but chewier than when new. Husbands daughter brought many boxes to us when she worked there. I do rotate our food stock in the vehicles and at home.
LCC I still have 12v coil heaters in the vehicles. I carry bullion cubes, sealed foil coffee packs, tea bags, soups, rahman packs, and instant oats that make me appreciate the heaters. I have 2 large enameled cups in each vehicle. Real knife forks and spoons to eat with. Some crackers and peanut butter. A little 5 cup size powdered milk mylar bag. Some disposable cups. Where I get the pantry food I get several mylar packs of beef stew that will get hot on the dashboard under the windshield. I could carry shelf stable milk if changed out frequently in hot or freezing weather. I average 2 boxes of that every two weeks.
I always pray and ask to get home again safely and quickly. Home alone for my husband would be horrible as he’s pretty helpless. I’m hoping to be able to go to town on the days the chaplain comes to visit my husband. I leave water bottles and snacks on the bed tray when I leave.
A really good article. I myself, don’t carry any food in my bug out vehicle. I have prep food at my house, my home base, and it wouldn’t take but minutes to move prep food from house to All WD. Living in the desert, during a day of 115 degrees, a vehicle interior will easily reach 150 degrees .. a great temp for cooking, not so much for keeping long term storage foods or water. On a trip, I always throw a plastic 5 gal GI styled can in the back, with a back pack of emergency foods, in case I break down on the road. All I keep as a constant in my vehicle, is (besides tools) emergency medical kits, knives, fire making supplies, a couple good knives. A portable battery charger and compressor is in the immediate future going to be added.
I have BOBs at home. I may go through those as the circumstances are very different than when they were packed a few months ago. I’ve often updated and added to those things. From here out, unless someone can help my husband get into the car we won’t be bugging out. I won’t abandon him here. If there is help then great. I keep air matresses and a tent with the bags. I could care for him if we can both leave. My bows and arrows, fishing equipment ect are all with the BOBs. I could only take him in the car.
Clergylady: I totally relate. Fortunately for me, I have found adult day care that I can swing for three days a week. It allows me to run errands, make dr.’s appointments and do the things necessary for modern living that can’t be done on line without constantly having the bete noir of “my wife home alone” sitting on my shoulder. At my age, unfortunately, I am seeing medical folks a lot more than I really want to. Just had dental surgery today for a dental implant that I thought was going to last me the rest of my days but went bad. Not a fun session. Since turning 80 I have seen an oral surgeon more times that I had in the previous 79 years. Also have seen a plethora of other types of medical folks more times than in the previous 79 years. When my regular dentist advised that I should seek the advice of an oral surgeon for the failing implant I started with, “My regular oral surgeon —” and thought to myself, “My regular oral surgeon????” How many people have a “regular oral surgeon”?????
Clergylady, you are definitely between a rock and a hard place. I said a prayer for you.
Clergylady, can you run your errands while the hospice folks are with your husband? Or are they close enough to you that in an emergency they’d be able to help you with him?
At our last location, both my spouse and i were considered essential personnel. Then my job changed so I wasn’t listed as essential personnel anymore. In an evacuation situation, I would have been on the list to go and he wouldn’t be. I made the decision I wasn’t going without him and we would shelter in place. I had complete peace about it, although others did not.
Before he arrived at our current location (I moved here before he did and was on my own for a bit), a friend and i were friends with an elderly lady who lived alone. Mentally, she was sharp as a tack, but her body was frail. She had daily help arrive to help her, but my friend and I discussed how we’d help her.in an emergency. We had several weather events where “her girls” as the elderly lady called them, were unable to get to her. She made do by herself. I called her on one of those days and asked her if she needed me to bring anything over or if she needed to leave her house. She chided me, asking why in the world i would risk life and limb when it made more sense for the both of us to stay put. Then we both laughed. She was glad I thought of her and appreciated the call to see if she were all right. She didn’t want me to try driving over, as the roads were pretty dicey and all she’d do was worry.
She has crossed over now, God rest her soul.
For those of you who found this article interesting or informative, I have started another article on other findings I discovered while rooting through my Bug-Out/Get-Home store of goodies. I am able to write only piecemeal so I don’t know when I will be sending it to Claude but I hope to have it before the end of September but don’t hold me to that.
I have been reviewing my stuff just after hurricane season ends, so at least once a year. My bobs get reviewed then, and at least once at some other point (usually when I add something, because it means I’m going to also subtract something).
donmako: I don’t know many 80+ year old infantrymen. I know some long retired 80+ year old infantrymen and while in their dreams they can still hike at 3.5 miles per hour for hours on end, when it comes to actually performing, their performance falls far short of that mark. See another poster’s comments about practicing hiking home. Yes, there are all kinds of work arounds I might dream about but I try to keep my plans reality based. If I get home in two days and have supplies left over, I would consider that a plus but I won’t plan for it. It’s called plan for the worst and hope for the best. There is a saying about holding your hand out and hoping it will fill up with good stuff. I won’t repeat it here because it is scatological.
If you are in your 20s or 30s and your job requires lots of physical effort and involves lots of walking, perhaps you can maintain the 120, 30-inch steps per minute of the military marching pace. That is 100 yards a minute maintained for an hour. That gets you approximately 3.5 miles in that hour. Our memories of what we did when we were young are sometimes enhanced a little.
In 2001 I participated in what was called The Fuji Big Walk. We covered 350 km in 7 days. The reasons we were able to maintain a 50 km per day pace were several. We started at 0800 promptly every morning. We took one 10-minute break at 10:00. We took one 30-minute break at 12:00. Lunch was ready as were tarps to sit on. We started marching again at 12:30. The Japanese are real sticklers for sticking to time schedules. We took one 10-minute break at 14:30 and usually quit marching at our destination by 17:00. When I say “10-minute break” I mean ten minutes. at 9 minutes and 30 seconds, the leaders started blowing their whistles and getting us in formation to resume marching again. That will be twenty years ago this October. I had put up the money and planned on traveling to Japan for what I thought was going to be a leisurely walk around scenic Mt. Fuji. I didn’t realize that there are marching clubs in Japan who pride themselves on competing to see who has marched the most mileage this year. Every evening the marchers would crowd around their particular leader to get his stamp in their marching record cards to verify that they had actually done that many km that day. The group was mainly middle aged men and women who do such marches at least several times a year and because it was so well organized. If one stopped to take pictures of a particular scenic spot, one then had to run to catch up with one’s group. It certainly reminded me of marching in the Marine Corps but with shorter break periods. In the USMC our breaks were 15 minutes, not ten and an hour for meal breaks, not 30 minutes.
My wife and I were sort of heros because 9/11 had happened just six short weeks before. I wasn’t going to let any — well, I won’t put in writing what I think — keep me from flying and fulfilling my plans. I did a 100 mile bike ride the weekend following 9/11. Again, the riders were not going to allow some (expletives deleted) deter us from our planned lives. So the Japanese were quite appreciative that we flew to Japan and participated in their event. There were actually more flight personnel on the plane than passengers. I don’t scare easily and my wife lived through the Tokyo/Yokohama fire bombings during WWII, so she doesn’t scare easily either.
But that was 20 years ago. I am not like a fine wine. I have not improved with age. I am more like a cheap red wine that has been sitting in the sun for 20 years. I think 15 miles in 3 days pushing a wheel chair is realistic. I hope I can do better, but I am not counting on it. I do hope that I am not overly optimistic.
So for all you fellow vets, do not let what you were able to do in your late teens or twenties mislead you as to what you can do today. If you have been mainly sitting behind a desk pushing papers all day, or even if you work as a mechanic, that doesn’t mean that you can still cover 3.5 miles an hour for 10 hours a day carrying a ruck or pulling a wagon. And if you were pursuing a fleeing NVA platoon through the jungle, I guarantee that you weren’t moving at that pace. Nor chasing a group of Taliban over a mountain pass at 10,000 feet.
Glad you’re back LCC. I appreciate your posts very much. Keep it up, please!
I also welcome you back, LCC. I have privately lamented your retreat and am hoping you will continue to contribute in future articles.
Thoughts on the immersion heaters & battery life have now got me digging thru my bags. Tho in all truth, I will have to “bug-in” at home. Still, the need to review & replenish is always good advise. Best wishes & thanks to all for your thoughtful comments. I now have much to do.
Delta Gal: I have casually tried to figure out how to run the 12 volt immersion heater from a 12 volt battery that I can recharge using solar charging power. I think it would work to cut the cigarette lighter plug off (my 12 volt immersion heater pre-dates all the devices developed since a cigarette lighter actually was for lighting cigarettes) and attach two alligator clips to the wires. The advantage of the immersion heater is that it is hot RIGHT NOW! One can heat 12 ounces of water in about two minutes. I haven’t actually timed it, but one must pay attention when using the immersion heater as the water will be violently boiling in a very short time. SHAZAM !!!! It just occurred to me that with a 12 volt battery and the immersion heater one could boil water to purify it in a very short time. Assuming that cars were stopped by the side of the road for some reason other than battery failure, that would be a means of purifying water. One could just hook the alligator clips to the abandoned car battery and purify 12 or 16 ounces of water in under 5 minutes. Boiling it wouldn’t remove heavy metals, but it would kill all but the rarest of pathogens and also eliminate a lot of the organophosphates. I would only drink ditch water by the side of a road as an absolute last ditch (pun intended) resort as anything by the side of a road is bound to be contaminated with all sorts of harmful substances but a flowing creek some distance from a road should be okay.
Certainly a kluge work-around but one to keep in the back of one’s mind. At less than $15 from Amazon, not isn’t as if one is investing one’s lifetime IRA savings in the workaround. I even have some alligator clips in the garage left over from another project. With Radio Shack long gone from the scene it is hard to buy just two alligator clips.
Good luck with your search. I can relate to having to bug in. With my present situation, lacking a motor vehicle, bugging out is way down on the list of alternatives in the event of an EOTW scenario.
Great Article LCC!
When I first started using the vacuum sealer, I watched a youtube video to make sure I understood the process and did not break the machine by accident. I was surprised how easy this was.
Complete removal of the oxygen is obviously the primary goal, or at least as much as possible.
And absolutely no moisture.
It was suggested to clip off at least one corner of a package (like a pasta mix) so that the vacuum sealer could do its job and easily remove the oxygen from the inside of the package.
Clergy Lady, LCC, mbi, etal
I too am trying to keep up as I support my cancer ridden partner. I can’t take care of her on my own full time, and her kids are too busy with too many obligations to even give me a day a week. So they put her in a care home, and I visit every day-except when Wisconsin quaranteens it for a covid positive test. But I got hospice canceled so she can see her docs, otherwise she would already been left for dead. I’ll break her out if and when I have to. We have several options for bug out, none of which include her kids. I’ve loved her too long to abandon her. This thread has really gone a direction I never expected.
Rick F, that’s a tough place to be.
So much of prepping talk is SHTF and TEOTWAWKI without regard to those who might be older or infirm yet still have a mindset to want to prepare as much as possible. There’s limited info about ageing in place, and I’ve not found any on caring for loved ones who need extra help because they have physical or mental limitations. The only topics I see mentioned is if someone needs first aid. That is helpful to know, of course, but different from having to be a caregiver in an SHTF or EOTW situation.
My old friend harboured no illusions and while not suicidal, she would not want someone to risk life and limb for her. Yet, I wouldn’t have been able to leave her.
Regarding the Clif bars… my brother stepped off of the Appalachian Trail early so I got his stash of Clif bars. Some kind of fruity berry nutty thing. Several months out of date when I took them on a backpacking trip in Big South Fork… by the time I realized that they had all grown moldy fur, one of my companions started hurling his guts up. We got off the trail early and hit the Waffle House.
I’d pick something else that stores better long term.
Woody: I carefully checked the one I had to see if it had an additional layer of fuzzy stuff. It did not and I started with a small one-inch square piece first before I scarfed the whole bar. With any food that has been sitting in storage for a while, even if it is still within the “best by date” I would check it with at least the sniff test and the eyeball test before chowing down. If it has been long out of date, then I would recommend the small sample test again before wolfing down the complete package. It’s far better in my book to be just a little nauseous than to be projectile hurling toward the porcelain statue and trying to cover the other end as well. I have had food poisoning three times in my life time. One time was enough to land me in the army hospital for a week. Two other times it was just a miserable night and the following day with drinking lots of Gatorade and Pepto Bismol.
I’m surprised your friend ate a fuzzy Cliff bar. Maybe after my experiences I am extra cautious, but I usually at least eyeball what I am going to eat before I start wolfing it down.
It wasn’t very obvious at first glance that the bars were moldy, due to the color and texture of the bars. That was back some time in the 90s, not my finest hour. I’m a LOT more careful now.
I noticed that several of those who have posted here have someone who needs a wheelchair. The average wheelchair is difficult to push over rough terrain but I learned a couple of things when I would take a friend out in her wheelchair. The handles that are standard on wheelchairs are too small and slippery so I replaced them with larger and softer handles meant for bicycles. I put some tape meant for baseball bats on the bare metal before pushing on the new handles to keep them in place. Sometimes the wheelchair was not on level ground so I put a “seatbelt” around the back of the chair and my friend to keep her from slipping out. For comfort, I cushioned the seat, up the sides a bit and the back. I basically sewed up four pillowcases and then sewed the pillowcases together with an open spaces to stuff the four pillows into. This way everything is washable. Wheelchairs often come with a memory foam high priced cushion but I found that it gets too hot and sweaty, maybe even encouraging sores. As my friend was pretty fragile at that time, I also made more cushions with fake fur for other parts of the wheelchair and attached them with elastic straps with velcro.
I also regularly would check the connections on the wheelchair and tighten when needed before going off the sidewalk for walks.
When my friend went onto her reward, I gave many of her special helps to an agency that had volunteers who fixed things up and lent them out to those who needed them. Maybe there is one in your area so that you can upgrade to a sturdier transport wheelchair.
I made a huge mistake and stored my food in the garage without any air-conditioning in an area that often hits over 100 for days at a time. I brought it all inside but I am so disappointed in myself that I haven’t opened up anything yet. My grandson and his buddy tried one of the Mountain House meals and said it was fine so maybe it’s all okay.
Something to consider is that if your destination point is at a much higher elevation than you are used to, remember that it will take longer to boil water and other cooking adaptations. If you’re not used to functioning at a higher elevation, I noticed that Herbs Etc. in New Mexico sells a herbal mix to strengthen your body for higher elevations. I have no idea if it works for everyone as I haven’t tried it. I purchased other helps from them for circulation issues and find them wonderfully helpful. No need to get prescription helps as the herbs do the job.
I so appreciate all the detailed and insightful comments above. Each one has been so very helpful.
LCC: Don’t know if this will get to you or not, but I just saw your comments on the 12volt/immersion heater/alligator clips post. (only saw it because I went back to review others comments/suggestions) My fear is this: I don’t have the knowledge of car battery workings like my mechanic husband (deceased) did. I’m afraid I’d blow up the car or something! I don’t mean to be such a ditzy old gal, but there it is. Why can’t they make a heater that plugs into a solar power bank….I at least have THAT? There must be something like that out in the ether, probably not looking in the right places. My best to you & the lil woman.